Claude-skill-registry growing-nvim-config

How to incrementally add Neovim configuration in this NixOS/home-manager setup. Use this when adding keybindings, settings, or plugins to nvim.

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/data/growing-nvim-config" ~/.claude/skills/majiayu000-claude-skill-registry-growing-nvim-config && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: skills/data/growing-nvim-config/SKILL.md
source content

Growing Neovim Config

This repo uses a "migrate only when needed" approach to Neovim configuration. Config lives in real

.lua
files, deployed by home-manager.

Platform note: This skill describes the devbox setup where home-manager fully owns nvim. On Darwin, dotfiles still manages nvim and we only overlay

ccremote.lua
. See gradual-dotfiles-migration for Darwin migration patterns.

Architecture

assets/nvim/lua/user/*.lua    →    ~/.config/nvim/lua/user/*.lua
                                         ↑
                              extraLuaConfig does require("user.*")

Home-manager's

programs.neovim
owns
~/.config/nvim/init.vim
. We avoid collisions by only managing files under
lua/user/
.

Current Setup

users/dev/home.nix:

programs.neovim = {
  enable = true;
  defaultEditor = true;
  viAlias = true;
  vimAlias = true;
  extraLuaConfig = ''
    require("user.settings")
    require("user.mappings")
  '';
};

xdg.configFile."nvim/lua/user" = {
  source = "${assetsPath}/nvim/lua/user";
  recursive = true;
};

assets/nvim/lua/user/settings.lua:

vim.g.clipboard = "osc52"           -- OSC 52 clipboard provider
vim.opt.clipboard = "unnamedplus"   -- Sync unnamed register with +

assets/nvim/lua/user/mappings.lua:

vim.keymap.set("t", "<C-w>a", [[<C-\><C-n>]], { noremap = true, silent = true })

Adding New Config

  1. Create a Lua file in

    assets/nvim/lua/user/
    :

    -- assets/nvim/lua/user/options.lua
    vim.opt.number = true
    vim.opt.relativenumber = true
    
  2. Add the require in

    home.nix
    :

    extraLuaConfig = ''
      require("user.settings")
      require("user.options")
      require("user.mappings")
    '';
    
  3. Apply:

    home-manager switch --flake .#dev

Plugin Strategy

Current approach: lazy.nvim (not Nix-managed)

When you need plugins, bootstrap lazy.nvim in your Lua config. It writes to

~/.local/share/nvim/
, which works fine on NixOS.

-- assets/nvim/lua/user/plugins.lua (future)
local lazypath = vim.fn.stdpath("data") .. "/lazy/lazy.nvim"
if not vim.loop.fs_stat(lazypath) then
  vim.fn.system({ "git", "clone", "--filter=blob:none",
    "https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git", lazypath })
end
vim.opt.rtp:prepend(lazypath)

require("lazy").setup({
  -- plugin specs here
})

Alternative approaches (for later):

  • Nix-managed plugins via
    programs.neovim.plugins
    — more reproducible, but bigger migration
  • Hybrid with
    lazy-nix-helper.nvim
    — lazy.nvim loads Nix store paths

Stick with lazy.nvim until you feel pain (offline builds, reproducibility needs).

Key Files

FilePurpose
users/dev/home.nix
extraLuaConfig
with requires
assets/nvim/lua/user/
Actual Lua config files

Gotchas

  • Don't create
    assets/nvim/init.lua
    — home-manager owns that path via
    programs.neovim
  • The
    lua/user/
    directory is deployed recursively
    — add files freely, they'll appear after
    home-manager switch